


Out of Our Element

by LoftwingPursuit



Category: Suikoden II
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 05:06:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11844540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoftwingPursuit/pseuds/LoftwingPursuit
Summary: Kinnison meets the two newest members of the Unicorn Army, one in-particular which catches his attention.





	Out of Our Element

It had been months but Kinnison still had trouble adjusting to life at Victory Castle. For as long as he could remember he spent his days living in the forest near Ryube, he didn't even go into town if he could help it. It was just him and Shiro, how it'd always been. But things were different now, much different. Lord Riou, before he was even a Lord, originally recruited him into Viktor's Mercenaries to fight off Highland. However that was all in vain, but now... now there was more than just the Mercs. There were all sorts of people from all sorts of walks of life that have taken refuge at this castle and aided Lord Riou's fight against Highland oppression. Truly it was something amazing, yet terrifying. This was more than just a small group of people fighting a few Highlanders, it was now a full blown war between the City State and Highland, and Lord Riou was the State's last and only hope. How'd it all come to this? He wondered.

However Kinnison didn't resent any of it, of how events and situations had changed. He honestly did love living here. It was difficult to deal with the change, sure, and truthfully he and Shiro are still dealing with that. But all the people they've met, all the people they've helped really makes it all feel worth it. However small it made the two of them feel like they were making a difference, or at least making the war a bit more tolerable on people.

The forest boy started to recall what he and Shiro had done since arriving here. More often than not Lord Riou himself asked him to come along to find new recruits for the army, or to take the war straight to Highland! Sometimes he would help out Yoshino with any laundry, offer rides on Shiro to younger kids, trade archery tips with Stallion, round up Yuzu's animals if they ever ran out of the pen, and spend hours talking to Bob about his lost Lycanthrope culture. The more he thought about it, the more Kinnison became thankful of this chance to meet such a unique collection of people. Never would he have met them living in that same old forest.

Suddenly he snapped back to reality when he noticed Shiro was gone. He stood up to see a girl, dressed rather wildly and wielding a bow, petting his beloved wolf-dog.

"Ah! Shiro!" He quickly ran up to the girl and his wolf. "I'm sorry, he usually doesn't run off like that. Shiro! C'mere boy!"

"It's fine! He's no bother." She replied, still petting Shiro, who was not at all aversed to all this new affection.

"Heh... looks like you've made a new friend." He paused for a moment, noticing how calm Shiro was to this stranger, before speaking again. "My name's Kinnison, and this is my wolf, Shiro. We're hunters all the way from Ryube Forest, but ever since Highland invaded the State we've chosen to help Lord Riou as much as we can." He took another look at the person he was talking to. She definitely didn't look like your normal village girl, that was for sure. "Can... I assume you're here because of Lord Riou as well?"

Finally she wrestled her attention from Shiro (who wasn't all too pleased about it), giving him a little scratch behind the ear before facing Kinnison. "Yes, my name is Ayda. I came to assist Riou after he helped me save Feather's life."

"Feather?"

"KEEEEEAH!!" The cry of a majestic griffon filled the sky around Victory Castle, soon followed by a rapid beating of wings that caught Kinnison very much by surprise. The beast descended slowly and chose to sit next to Ayda, who gave them a quick scratch around their beak.

"This is Feather. He's a griffon prince who got attacked by some other ruffian griffons. I found him injured within Forest Village. I... wanted to help him but the villagers... the villagers didn't agree. They thought he was nothing more than a monster. A creature that would turn its back on those who helped it." She turned to Feather, stroking his feathers gently. "But he's no monster and I would not stand to see him murdered like one."

He certainly didn't look like your average griffon. Simply sitting down he managed to tower over both Ayda and Kinnison. The plumage around his neck was different and he seemed to wear some sort of strange necklace. Without a doubt this was a griffon like no other, though Kinnison couldn't help but wonder why a griffon 'prince' was being attacked by their own kind. Still, he supposed that didn't matter now. He was safe in Victory Castle. We all were.

Kinnison cleared his throat in an attempt to regain Ayda's attention. "May I show you around the castle? It's hard to adjust from living a quiet forest to such a busy place, trust me I know, but I think you'll find it's a wonderful place to live filled with wonderful people."

Smiling, Ayda replied. "I'd like that. This castle is... a lot larger than I expected." With a lot more people too. Admittedly she felt ever so slightly overwhelmed

\---

While Feather had chosen to perch himself atop Victory Castle the archers instead make their way through each and every section of said Castle. Kinnison would introduce her to as many of his comrades as he could. They had lunch at Hai Yo's restaurant (after he finished another one of his cook-offs, where he insisted Shiro should be a judge), relaxed in the garden outside with all of Yuzu's animals, watched some of the Red and Blue Knights of Matilda during their training, Kinnison showed off the Unite Attack Shiro and the Kobolds were working on. Eventually, just as the sun was starting to set, they left Leona's Tavern and made their way to the roof of the Castle where Feather had previously flown off to.

Kinnison sat down while Ayda rested against Feather. Shiro had chose to stay closer to ground where he was more comfortable, so it was just the three of them and together they caught the last the sun's rays. Neither of them expected the Victory Castle tour to take the entire day. Seems Kinnison underestimated just how many people had called this Castle a home, as he now does.

For a while it was silent. The sky had gotten darker, hundreds upon hundreds of stars became visible in the night sky as a cold breeze swept through Victory Castle.

"I forgot to thank you for the tour before. So... thank you!" It was Ayda who chose finally broke the silence. "I fear I wouldn't have been able to make heads or tails of this place otherwise." She couldn't help but laugh a little after saying that. It was true. She could tell every inch of Greenhill forest apart with ease but villages, towns, castles? They were beyond her. She was not destined to live with the common man, the forest was where she belonged and after all this over it would be where she returned.

"... Ayda, mind if I ask you something?"

"Hm? Sure."

"You never told me exactly what it is you do."

"Oh? Well I have my duty as the Guardian of the Forest back at Greenhill. My father before me was a Guardian. Him and my mother were... later killed by griffons... but still, my father's spirit lives within me and so I became a Guardian after him. I was born in that forest and I'll die in that forest because it's my job to protect it." Kinnison listened carefully to every word of Ayda's story. Compared to her he was a mere hunter with no real ambitions after the war.

"That must be hard to have such a big responsibility."

She nodded in response. "It is, but I wouldn't have it any other way. How about you?"

"Wha- me?" Sheepishly he scratched the back on his head. "I think after all this is over me and Shiro will return to Ryube Forest and probably go back to hunting, just like be-"

"Keeeeaa..." Feather's sudden yawn had them both taken by surprise! The griffon had rested his head on his claws and closed his eyes. No doubt he was tired from making the long journey here, especially after suffering from such an attack. It reminded the two of them Ayda smiled softly at Feather before yawning as well. None of them noticed how long they had been up. More stars than before had illuminated the now dark night sky, along with a beautiful quarter moon.

Kinnison stood up, stretched and offered his hand to Ayda, pulling her up. "I apologise, I was not aware of how late it had gotten. Would you like me to show you to the soldier's sleeping quarters? I think we passed by it before."

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this completely on the fly without any pre-planning because I can't believe there's literally no content for these two? And I wasn't gonna have that.
> 
> I apologise in advance if there's grammatical or spelling errors, it's 6am right now, I'm sleep deprived and not at all confident in my writing abilities


End file.
